Apparatus for forming refrigerant blocks



Feb. 5, 1935. n. A. MARCUS ET'AL 1,989,874

APPARATUS Fon FORMING REFRIGERANT Locxs Filed Nov. 1, 195o 2 sheets-sheet i l COOLER IBRINE HEAT EXCHANGER GASOMETER CONDENSER f COMPRESSOR Arrone/vf K Feb. 5, y1935. D. A.' MARCUS E1' AL 1,939,874

APPARATUS FOR FORMING REFRIGERNT BLOCKS- Z-Sheets-Sheet Filed Nov. 1, 1 930 l Patented Feb. 5, 1935 APPARATUS FOR FORMING REFRIGERANT BLOCKS David A. Marcus, Los Angeles, and Walter W. Ogier, Jr., Pasadena, Calif., assignors to Nu-Ice Company, Los Angeles, Calif., a corporation of Nevada Application November 1, 1930, Serial No. 492,762

1 Claim.

Our invention relates to the art of making refrigerant blocks from liqueable and solidiable gases, and relates in particular to the manufacture of such refrigerant blocks from carbon dioxide snow.

It is known when certain gases are placed under pressure and liqueed that by expanding these gases the absorption of heat by such expansion will cause the freezing of a. portion of the fluid gas, thus forming a snow.

Various gases, among which are included carbon dioxide and oxygen, are adapted for use in connection with our invention, but for the purpose of simplicity the description thereof will be confined to its use in the making of refrigerant blocks from an expansion product obtained by expanding carbon dioxide liquid in Yan insulated expansion chamber, together with an apparatus suitable for the eicient and economical handling of this liquid before and after expansion.

I t is possible to manufacture refrigerantblocks simply by expanding compressed, liqueed carbon dioxide gas in a chamber until a quantity of -snow has been accumulated therein, whereupon the chamber may be opened and the accumulated snow removed and pressed into blocks. The operating elciency of a plant of this character, however, compared to the actual amount of carbon dioxide gas converted into liquid form would be so low as 'to be prohibitive for commercial purposes.

.It is an object of our invention to provide an.

apparatus `for making refrigerant blocks of this character, in which the carbon dioxide gas makes no contact with the external atmosphere until discharged from the device in the form of refrigerant blocks.

It is an object of the invention to provide an apparatus including an expansion chamber hav-V ing means operating therein for forming and ejecting blocks o f solid or frozen products re-v sulting from the expansion of a suitable gas within the expansion chamber.

It is another object of our invention to provide a complete system including means for taking unsolidified gas from the expansion chamber and recompressing and reliquefying it for reuse in the snow-forming apparatus.

It is another object of our invention to utilize the unsolidified gas accumulating in the expansion chamber to precool the liquefied gas prior to its introduction into the expansion chamber.

Still another object of our invention is the in-l clusion of adjustable means for regulating the temperature of the liquefied compressed gas entering the expansion chamber.

Another object of our invention is to provide an apparatus of the character described having an adjustable means for maintaining a uniform pressure in the expansion chamber.

It is a. further object of our invention to provide in an apparatus of the character described,` means for eliminating water and oil from the liqueiied gas prior to its introduction into the expanson chamber.

These and other objects will be apparent from a perusal of the following specification, theaccompanying drawings, and the appended claim.

Referring to the drawings in which,-

Fig. 1 is a somewhat diagrammatic view of the apparatus embodying the features of our invention and showing a simple form of expansion chamber suitable for the forming of refrigerant blocks by the compression of a snow obtained Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical section taken on va median plane through the snow compressing plunger positioned within the expansion chamber for the purpose .of compacting carbon dioxide snow into refrigerant blocks, this plunger being also shown in section in Fig. l.

Fig. 3 is a sectional plan view of this plunger taken as indicated by the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view through a portion of the expansion chamber showing the removable closure member sealing the outlet end thereof, this section being taken as indicated .by the line 4 4 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a horizontal sectional view taken as indicated by the line 5-.5 of Fig. 1 showing a screen member provided for a purpose to be described herein. l 4

Fig. 6 is a sectional view through this kscreen member taken as indicated by the line 6--6 of Fig. 5.

Fig. 'Z is a vertical sectional view through an alternative form of expansion chamber with which is shown an alternative type of snow compressing plunger.

Referring to Fig. l and in particular to ,that portion of this ligure comprising the refrigerant block-forming unit designated by the numeral 11, we show this unit 11 as including an inner casing 1'2 which forms an expansion chamber 13, and an outer casing 14 which is joined with the inner casing to form a double walled container. The space between the outer and inner casings is filled with an insulating material, such as sawdust or cork, as indicated at 15. The top of the chamber 13 is closed of! by a cover 16, a gasket 17 being applied to the Joint to make the chamber substantially air-tight, and the cover being ldcked 1in the manner shown at 19.

'I'he lower end of the chamber 13 is shown as having vertically extending walls 18 which form a chamber having a lower outlet opening 21, this chamber comprising what we will term a compression chamber 20. 'Ihe outlet opening 21 o1' the compression chamber 20 is closed 01T by a removable plug or head 23 which is held in place by a locking bar 25 as shown. The plug 23 is adapted to serve as an abutment element for a purpose to be later described, and is intended to nt snugly in the opening 21 for preventing the escape of gas or snow from the compression chamber.. It is of course evident that various sealing means for preventing this escape of gas couldbe here utilized as desired, without departing from the scope of our invention.

Slidably extending through a central opening in the cover 16 is a tubular plunger rod 32, the lower end of which is closed by a threaded cap 33 having an orifice 34 therein as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. Rigidly clamped between the cap 33 and a lock nut 35 having threaded engagement with the rod 32 is a plunger member 36, which is of the same configuration as the compression chamber 20 and is adapted to be slidably received therein. The plunger member is provided with a plurality of openings 37 extending vertically therethrough, as shown, to allow the passage of gas from the compression chamber 20 into the expansion chamber 13 as the plunger 36 moves downwardly. Guide means in the form of a spider 38 lmay be provided to align the plunger 36 with the compression chamber 20.

Supported on a ledge 39 adjacent to the upper end of the expansion chamber 13 is a screen member 40 comprising a pair of frames 41 having central openings 42 throughwhich the plunger rod 32 extends. Positioned between these frames 41 in the manner shown in Figs. 5 and 6 is a iine mesh screen allowing gas to rise therethrough, but effectively preventing solid material from rising above this level.

In the operation of our linvention carbon dioxide gas is introduced into the expansion chamber 13 from a source of supply, by being led through consecutive units of an apparatus which we will now describe. This gas is led through a pipe 50 from a source of supply, such as a gas plant (not shown) to a compressor 51 and is induced to iiow in the direction of the arrow 52 by the pressure generated in this gas plant. From the compressor 51 the gas is discharged at high pressure and led through a pipe 54 to a lter 55, comprising a shell filled with an absorbent material which absorbs moisture and oil from the gas. 'I'he filter 55 is preferably provided with removable heads (not shown) for the replacement of the absorbent material when it becomer saturated.

From the filter 55 the gas is led through a pipe 57 to a condenser 58 which comprises a coil of pipe 59 immersed in a bath of circulating water. The gas is liquefied in the condenser and led therefrom through a pipe 60 into the top of a water trap 62 comprising a shell having a comparatively large cross sectional area, where the water, by virtue of its greater density and the lo'w velocity of the fluid within the trap, settles to the bottom and is drained oif through a valved pipe 63. The liquefied gas is then led off from the top oi.' the water trap through a pipe 65 into the lower end of an oil trap 66, which is of substantially the same construction as the water trap 62, but is inverted to allow the oil which rises to the top of the trap to be drained oil' through a valved pipe 67. The liqueed gas is then led from the bottom of the oil trap through a pipe 70 to a heat exchanger 71 where it passes through a pipe coil 72. From the heat exchanger 71 the liquid is led through a pipe 75 to a brine cooler` 76 where it is passed through a pipe coll 77 which is cooled by a supply of brine led to the cooler 76 from an ammonia plant (not shown) by circulating pipes 78. The liquid is led from the brine cooler through a flexible tube 80 which connects to the upper end of the tubular plunger rod 32, the liquid being led therethrough and introduced into the expansion chamber 13 through the orifice 34 in the cap 33.

As the liquefied gas under high pressure is ejected through the orifice 34 into the insulated expansion chamber 13, immediate expansion of Athe gas takes place and the absorption of heat by such expansion causes the freezing of a portion of the :duid gas into the form of a snow, which drops downwardly in the direction of the arrows 82 into the compression chamber 20 and is subsequently allowed to build up in a loose mass, partially or wholly filling the expansion chamber 13. 'I'hat portion of the carbon dioxide introduced into the chamber 13 which does not form snow passes upwardly in the direction of the arrows 83 through the screen 40.

The plunger rod 32 is then operated (by means not shown) to move the plunger 36 downwardly into the compression chamber which compresses a quantity ofthe carbondioxide snow against the abutment element 23 so that a block of such snow having a cross section corresponding to the interior shape of the compression chamber 20 is formed. 'Ihe locking bar 25 is then released and subsequent downward movement of the plunger 36 causes the abutment element and the block of snow to be forced outwardly. The abutment member 23 may then be replaced and locked, and the plunger reciprocated to form an additional block of carbon dioxide snow.

An important feature of our invention is the manner in which we utilize the unsolidied gases in the expansion chamber 13 to precool the liqueed gas prior to its introduction into the expansion chamber. These unsolidied gases which rise through the chamber 13 in the direction of the arrows 83 are led through a vent 85 in the cover 16, which vent connects as by a pipe 86 to the heat exchanger 71 where the gas is circulatedvaround the coil 72 and from thence is delivered back into the pipe 50 on the low pressure side of the compressor 51. A gasometer 87 is also connected to the low pressure side of the system by a pipe 88 in the manner shown. This gasometer is of the usual type having a floating top and liquid seal and is operable to maintain a uniform pressure in the low pressure side of the system by adjusting the floating portion of the gasometer by varying the weight thereof.

Another important feature of our invention is the placing of the brine cooler directly ahead of the expansion chamber. This brine cooler is easily susceptible to regulation and will provide a constant adjustable temperature of the liquid entering the combustion chamber by adjusting the suction pressure on the ammonia. plant and thus varying the temperature of the cooling brine as desired.

In Fig. 7 of the drawing-s we show a. second form of expansion chamber generally designated by the 'numeral 90 which comprises a chamber 91 provided at the bottom thereof with a horizontally reciprocal piston 92 driven by means (not shown). The piston l92 is adapted to slide in a channel 93 in the interior bottom surface of tmchamber 91, which channel is a continuation of an butletopenying 94 and comprises the compression chamber of this form of the device. Theouter end of the outlet opening 94 is closed by a removable abutment element 96. Carbon dioxide gas is introduced'into the chamber 91 by a pipe 97 which projects downwardly through a screen 98 and is provided with a cap 99'having an oriiicesimilar to the orifice 34 in the cap 33 previously described.

A vent pipe 100 is connected to the chamber 91 above the screen 98 and leads through a heat exchanger to the low pressure sidev of an apparatus identical with the apparatus described in connection with the first form of the invention.

At an intermediate point in the chamber .91 a slidable gate is optionally provided upon which the carbon dioxide snow is allowed to accumulate and which maybe slid outwardly in the direction of the arrow 101 to allow a quantity of snow to fall downwardly into position to be compressed into the compression chamber 94 by the piston 92.

The piston 92 is preferably hollow and the abutting end 102 thereof is provided with a plurality of orices 103 which communicate with the interior of the piston.v Additional openings 104 are provided in the sidewall of the piston 92 to' allow the unsolidied gas to nd its way from the compression chamber back into the expansion' chamber while the snow is being compressed.

We have herein shown our invention in simplied form and for the purpose of clearness have dispensed with immaterial constructional details,

as we are aware that numerous embodiments of the forms shown might be devised Without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. l

DAVID A. MARCUS. n yWALTER W. OGIER, JR. 

